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6 SEPTEMBER 2008

The fevuh | MB's got "the fevuh," Gibson looks like a glazed donut monster (remember Bill Cosby's routine?), and it's been a week since I could breathe through my nose. What happened to summer? At least the sun is back. September is usually my favorite month, but this one's starting off as a mixed bag.

But you didn't come here to read about our health. We're taking a bit of a break from shows, as you'll note on the calendar. Time to retool the set list, etc. But since May, when we starting playing out again as a full band for the first time in years, we've enjoyed ourselves immensely. We've played with some great bands, met some wonderful people, and also had the opportunity to reconnect with a lot of familiar faces. We look forward to the next round of shows.

More cowbell!

- Matt

 


10 JUNE 2008

Morning After...The new EP | We finally put the finishing touches on Morning After Food Poisoning in the South of France, a 4-song EP that weighs in at a mighty 19 minutes and some change. Yes, it's short. But daggum, we're feeling awfully good about it. You can preview a few tracks at our MySpace site, and CD's are selling for a measly five bucks at shows and at our store. Give it a listen and tell us what you think when you get a chance.

- Matt


MB - photo by Ron Lawson1 JUNE 2008

And there was much rejoicing | We had a great time at Allen Creek playing with four other bands at the Malawi benefit. Money was raised for a good cause, loud rock music was dispensed to the masses, and there was much rejoicing. Thank you, Hazens!

- Matt


12 MAY 2008

So excited | Okay, we can't wait to start playing out again. As you'll note on the calendar to the right, we have actual shows posted. Shows! Our collective glee knows no bounds.

- Matt


27 MARCH 2008

U23D | Mary Beth, Gibson, and I went to see U23D at the IMAX theater in Seattle Center. The place was packed, although the crowd was pretty restrained (I felt like I had to tone down my enthusiasm, lest I frighten the mellow people). This was my first 3D experience, and I found it, well, kind of weird. At times, it felt a little vertigo-inducing (no pun intended). But it was interesting.

Larry and AdamAs for the actual music, I thought U2 rocked, as usual. They reinvented classics like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Bullet the Blue Sky," tying both songs to the modern political landscape, with Bono wondering aloud why three branches of the same prophetic tree (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are trying so desperately to kill each other. They also introduced a few newer songs, like "Love and Peace or Else," with Larry standing out front and holding the rhythm down in the first half of the song with just a floor tom and crash cymbal.

The Edge and BonoThe high point of the film was definitely "One," which ended the main set with the sort of transcendental moment we've come to expect from U2. Conversely, the encore began with "The Fly," complete with jumbled messages flashing on the screen, a la the Zoo TV Tour, which felt jarring, cynical, and, well, a tad boring. All in all, though, a great show. I was struck by one moment in particular, when Bono, usually larger than life, suddenly looked tiny on stage, like a man no longer in control of what he had unleashed. The huge Buenos Aires crowd was singing along to "With or Without You," and Bono looked overwhelmed by the experience. Who wouldn't be?

- Matt


13 MARCH 2008

A life's work | What do you do if your life’s work belongs to youth? If what you do isn’t serious, at least not according to most people over 40?

If you’re 20 and scratching out a local following with your band, you swing away, the wind at your back. If you’re 30 and still climbing the same mountain, you march on, more jaded, perhaps, but nowhere near ready to call it quits. If you’re 40... it’s impossible not to feel self-conscious, like maybe you better get out before you embarrass yourself any further.

drunk WoodyBut you can’t. You’re a never-was and a has-been all at once. Time has passed you by. The future belongs to somebody else. But you keep on because... because there has to be a way to make rock and roll serious work, even for people who’ve already burned through their youth, even for people with bills to pay and dependents to feed -- and no time for schmoozing.

We all understand why famous bands keep touring well past their prime, well into their geriatric years. There’s money in it. And the God-hole, as Bono puts it, must be fed, whatever the costs. But what about the undiscovered indies? When the brass ring never arrives, they get on with the serious business of adulthood, right? Adolescent dreams are left for dead, and everything fades to black.

But again, what if your serious business is rock and roll? What if you never outgrow it?

Unknown jazz, blues, and folk artists keep playing until they fall over dead. They’re not dinosaurs. They’re not jokes. They’re seasoned artists, revered by anyone who knows anything about the style of music they play. Who will give rock and roll the same degree of dignity?

Rock is dead. Long live rock.

- Matt


15 FEBRUARY 2008

Angry C-CupsAngry C-cups | So we finally changed the album cover on North by Nowhere. Why? For starters, we felt a little self-conscious every time we handed someone a copy of the CD and the first thing they saw was MB's lovely cleavage. But it was more than that. It was the cranky look on her face. It was the stark colors. It was the fact that we failed to observe a rather easy-to-follow rule of thumb that until now we'd successfully stuck with since our first album: bands generally look silly on album covers. Not all the time. But most of the time. Striking a pose looks like, well, striking a pose. Ergo, bands that strike poses are… posers? True, you can't get away from a certain amount of posing - bands need shots for web sites, the media, etc. And true, we've toyed with mildly risqué stuff in the past, mostly 'cause we get tired of being so damn wholesome all the time. But let's face it: we're not hopelessly sullen, coolly detached, righteously angry, sexually transmittable, or even elegantly wasted. We're geeks.

We recognize that imagery is part of every band's identity, and we recognize that we've a long way to go before we articulate a coherent and fitting band image. But given our general ineptitude (you should see the web site that nearly went live before we released War Stories - it had an absolutely over-the-top shot of MB's cleavage juxtaposed against a shot of me sitting on the toilet; only the toilet shot saw the light of day), we're thinking it best to concentrate on the music, lest we cheat the only thing that counts.

Having said all that, we reserve the right to put a shot of MB and her angry C-cups on the cover of the next album. But it will have to feel right. This one didn't.

new North by Nowhere cover"Okay," you say, "tell us about the new cover." We found it on the Wisconsin Historical Society's web site, and WHS was good enough to grant us use of the photo for a small fee and proper credit (WHS Image ID 11749). We think it fits the music better, and we won't be embarrassed to sign copies of it at shows.

Along with giving WHS proper credit, I would be remiss if I failed to thank everyone who sent in their ideas for the cover. You gave us some cool photos, and we were in the midst of putting together a collage when we stumbled upon the WHS site. Somehow the image spoke to us, and we felt compelled to run with it. The best laid plans . . .

- Matt


31 JANUARY 2008

toysWe like toys | One of the fun things about playing guitar is all of the weird sounds you can make, especially if you're willing to fork over some hard-earned cash for one of those little toys guitarists put at their feet. Tommy and I are on a quest to find strange and new sounds, which has fueled an arms race in guitar effects. Here's a photo of his newly built pedal board, now almost too heavy to carry. Mine is smaller, but I added one of these and one of these and have been making fun noises ever since.

- Matt


12 JANUARY 2008

all messed upThe sun came out | A strange gold orb appeared in the sky today, and I wasn't the only one to notice. As part of my usual Sunday long run, I ran down to the Tacoma waterfront (Ruston Way) and ended up weaving through hordes of bipeds, all of them a sickly shade of gray, with moss growing on their north sides. Everyone had come to the boardwalk to pay homage to the strange thing in the sky.

Winter sucks in the Northwest. There's just no getting around it. My only escape is running in the woods (where less rain drops hit you) and of course playing music. Speaking of which, we had a great rehearsal tonight. We are hatching many plans and writing many songs, but I have to keep you in the dark a while longer. No worries. After winter comes spring.

- Matt


18 DECEMBER 2007

the crocodile cafeEnd of an era | I just read the news that the venerable Crocodile Cafe is closing its doors. Ack. There goes another Seattle music scene institution. The Colourbox. OK Hotel. Sit & Spin. The depressing list goes on, and now it includes the Croc. I know some of our fellow bands regarded the Croc with much skepticism and derision, partly I'm sure because they never got to play there. I can't blame them. It was, at times, hipper than thou. But we had some great shows there, including our Spinner CD release party in 1998. It was an excellent sounding room, the staff members were professional and courteous, the line-ups were usually pretty interesting, and in general it was a great place to play or see a show. R.I.P., Crocodile Cafe.

- Matt


3 DECEMBER 2007

Nostalgia fit | Do you ever look back at your life -- or segments thereof -- and just get overwhelmed by all the associated emotions that come with it? We got a cool e-mail recently from a budding young chef in Federal Way, who recalled the first and only time he ever saw our band play live (at an impromptu unplugged all-ages show in SeaTac many, many moons ago) and then went on to share with us a nifty little detail: he met a girl there that night that went on to become his wife. Good friends of ours also met at a TWBA show years ago (at the Off Ramp) and later married, so maybe there's something going on here. The Whole Bolivian Army: your rock and roll matchmakers.

Anyway, the whole thing inspired me to put in some old TWBA albums, and I was struck by a whole range of emotions as I listened to them. Every album is created in a certain context, at a certain juncture in our lives, and listening to them for me can be an unnerving experience. The nostalgia is almost too much to bear. It aches, but in a good way.

- Matt


17 NOVEMBER 2007

Chris and GregBasement tapes | Ugh. Sorry for the lack of posts. It's not like we haven't been busy. Greg went to Japan -- and Moses Lake. I ran the Portland Marathon. Chris flew to California to mix an album dedicated to his late brother. Tommy plumbed the mother of all toilets. MB tried to convince Gibson that Halloween candy isn't a major food group. Oh, and we recorded a 4-song demo. Since then we've been bunkered in the basement while Tommy finishes the "big room" in his studio. For the moment, we're writing, writing, writing. But we promise to post the demo songs here as soon as we've mixed them. In the meantime, try not to be too SAD. There's nothing you or I or anybody can do about the dreaded loss of our daylight . . .

- Matt


31 OCTOBER 2007

skeleton! boo!Spooky Tacoma | Gibson and I went trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood tonight, while MB answered the door and sugared up the masses. Nobody chased after us in a hockey mask, but we did eat enough candy to feel a bit seasick afterward.

Halloween should be twice a year. It's definitely Gibson's favorite. What's not to like? You get to gut a pumpkin (or two or three or four), traipse around in the dark, dress up all spooky (or goofy, if you prefer), and eat free candy. We were a little suspicious of the one lady who left apples on her front porch, though. What's she trying to do? Start a revolution?

- Matt


23 AUGUST 2007

Morning after food poisoning in the south of France | That's actually the subtitle of a new song we're working on, called Alright, which revisits a backpacking trip to Europe I took after dropping out of grad school. My buddy and I ended up with food poisoning while staying in Arles, a cool little town in Provence, in the south of France. My buddy did okay. Me, not so much. I don't throw up well. I remember classmates in high school and college who could drink, hurl, and repeat -- with smiles on their faces. For me, personally, I have to get to the point of near death before I can throw up, and then it's like an exorcism, usually one that lasts a good 12 hours and is accompanied by high fever, hallucinations, and all sorts of unbecoming moaning and writhing.

Anyway, after that particular episode in Arles, which lasted all night, the sun finally came up, and I began to feel human again. I left the hotel and wandered the cobblestone alleys to find something cold and fizzy to drink. It was a sunny October morning, and life was suddenly good. Really, really good. Just hours earlier, I was riding the porcelain bus and praying for a way out of my misery. And then everything was beautiful again.

Jaja Boom BoomWe had to part ways with Roger Johnson, our long-time drummer and good friend, last week, not because of any of the usual culprits (musical differences, etc.), but because of time constraints. Roger is a dang busy guy, and a proud papa to boot. The band demanded a little more than he could give at the moment. It's tempting to feel a helpless sense of deja vu. Here we go again in with another member change. But we keep reminding ourselves that things will be alright. Here's an MP3 of Roger playing Alright at practice, and here's one of the new guy, Chris, long time buddy of Greg's, playing another new song in the works, Mercurial, after learning it on the fly at a hastily arranged audition. That's Gibson playing the harmonica at the end. Apologies for all the wrong notes on guitar. The drummer, though, is fine.

sun finally came
slid into my jeans
sleepwalked the streets
streets I'd never seen

suddenly it's gonna be alright

something cool to drink
pressed against my skin
she gave me my change
couldn't remember where I'd been

suddenly it's gonna be alright

free fall feels right
when no one gets hurt
I dig where I land
fingernails need dirt

suddenly it's gonna be alright

- Matt


6 AUGUST 2007

drum solo!The kid is alright | There are plenty of cool things about parenthood, but one of them has been a surprise to me, at least as far as how it has affected my musical life: the chance to revisit and rediscover rock and roll. Gibson is six and a half now, and a budding little drummer. His first favorite band was U2 (not a surprise, given how much MB and I play U2 around the house), and he actually knew all four members' names before he could fully speak. Likewise, he already knew how to play the drums. Since then, he's slowly been learning the U2 catalog, actually sitting down and watching Larry Mullin, Jr. play a specific song, pausing the DVD, and then hurrying to his drum set to replicate the part.

We were a bit worried he would never move on to another band, but no worries. Next up was AC/DC. After watching Let There Be Rock, Gibson started miming Angus Young's whirling dervish guitar antics, including that fancy move where he spins around the floor on his side while playing his SG.

Next came Queen, after we all sat down one day to watch Live Aid footage, courtesy of the Tacoma Public Library system. Bono and U2 hit their stride that day, but Freddie Mercury, aka Farrokh Bulsara, and Queen absolutely blew everyone's doors. What a magnificent performer Freddie was! No one in today's crop of would-be world beaters comes even remotely close. The guy was pure theater: decadent but real, over the top but sincere. And his voice was otherworldly.

Currently, we're studying the music and biography of the Who. I was never much of a Who fan, so this has been fun for me. Watching The Kids Are Alright, it's impossible not to be sucked into the mania. Pete Townshend was channeling pure aggression. Thankfully only his guitars (and amps and Keith Moon's drums) paid the price. And thanks to Gibson, I've discovered the Who, only three decades after their heyday. Who's next?

- Matt


3 AUGUST 2007

Planet PT | Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who came out to the acoustic show last night at the co-op in Port Townsend. The place has its own weather system (the wind always blows) and feels a million miles away from the rest of the world. It's quiet and lonely and desolate, even in the summer when the tourists descend. And it still feels like home. We missed you.

- Matt


6 JULY 2007

Domesticity is good for you | Long-time followers of TWBA know well our ongoing attempts at outdoing Spinal Tap in the members turnover department. I won't revisit our sordid history here, other than to say we've never lost anybody to spontaneous human combustion. Instead, I'll mention how cool -- and downright freakish -- it is to have found a lineup that has excellent chemistry (we've had that before) AND an unmistakable aura of stability as well (we've only rarely had that). No personality clashes. No ego trips. No unbridgeable musical differences. Just four guys and one gal getting busy making music. Alas, there's nothing to hold us back, save for domestic obligations -- the avowed enemy of rock 'n roll. Then again, maybe band discussions that revolve around the differing consistencies of diaper poop or the perils of public schooling will keep us properly grounded. We rock for the good of the republic.

- Matt


1 JULY 2007

cheap knock-offsCheap knock-offs | I bought my first pair of Vans the other day. I've always been a Chuck Taylor kind of guy (orange, green, mint green, gray, off white, gold lamé), but thought I'd give Spicoli's favorite shoe a try. It helped that Gibson needed a pair of slip-ons, too. Who has time for laces? Anyway, technically speaking, neither of us bought Vans. We went for the cheap knock-offs, but who's going to notice? Not us. Gibson's have a menacing skull and crossbones design. Mine show some kind of inscrutable blob. They were the only ones in my size...

- Matt


19 JUNE 2007

Greg and Tommy hard at work...Anatomy of a song | Ever wonder how a song gets from Point A to Point B, with Point A being an idea and Point B being a finished studio production? Well, we thought it would be cool to invite you into the pre-production stages of the next album. Below are three versions of the same song, each with notes next to the accompanying MP3.

One Last Time Here (naked): Here we have a basic song idea, which I recorded at home many moons ago with Mary Beth and a click track (muted in the mix). Just a couple of guitars and vocals. Dry. No effects. No mixing. No nothing. The song in primitive form.

One Last Time Here (arranged): Here's what it sounds like after Tommy has finished with it in his studio. Tommy erased one of the guitars, replaced it with his own guitar line, added a bass line, and added a synthetic drum line (realistic enough to fool at least one actual living, breathing drummer). He also gave it a rough mix and played with the arrangement, adding an extended outro simply by cutting and pasting already existing parts. Finally, he EQ'd and compressed Mary Beth's breathy vocals, bringing them up close and personal.

One Last Time Here (demo): Now we hear the song for the first time with everyone playing, including Roger on drums and Greg on bass. In this case, the song was recorded live, without a click track, which means it races at times and is loaded with "mistakes" but has plenty of energy. My guitar line, previously a static thing with a funky low-fi EQ, has evolved into a full-on wah-fest, with more ambience than definition. Tommy, meanwhile, accidentally clicked on his MXR Phase 100 during the outro for a split second -- an idea is born. Greg, for his part, helps us rework the choruses, adding a chunka-chunka part for extra grrrrrr. Next, Roger gives the skins a good whackin', thereby proving the colossal difference between a real drummer and a machine. Finally, Mary Beth, singing the song live in a room with four other loud musicians, changes her vocal technique from breathy to full-on wail. In the final production, she'll likely switch between being breathy (for the verses) and singing from the gut (choruses, bridge, outro). But you won't hear that version for a while. We've got about 15-20 potential songs to play with first, and each one will get similar treatment in order to bring it up to "demo" level.

So what do you think? Do you feel enlightened, disappointed, or a little bit of both, now that you know the secret formula behind Colonel Sanders' chicken (the one that makes you crave it fortnightly)?

- Matt


18 JUNE 2007

Raechelle, Steve, MBSteve gets old | Mary Beth, Gibson and I were lucky enough to be invited to ex-TWBA bass player Steve Miller's grand birthday bash earlier this month, which, conveniently enough for Gibson and I (a pair of sweet tooths if ever there was one), was hosted at (ahem) a chocolate factory!?! The cake, as you can imagine, was de-frickin'-licious. So, too, the samples (ever had curry with your chocolate?). There was much face-dancing, skanking, moshing of all kinds, and generally embarrassing (and somewhat painful) calisthenics. Mary Gibson LightyearBeth looked lovely in a shiny red dress, Gibson brought Buzz and Woody along (Woody had too much to drink), and the boys from Thornton Creek showed up. Steve is terribly old now, bordering on the geriatric, but still the life of the party, even without his medication. The only rough moment came when Woody lost his hat. But we (i.e., MB) found it, and order was restored to the universe.

- Matt


14 JUNE 2007

the face of rock and rollFlag Day | Hey, today's flag day. Our personal favorite is the Jolly Roger, with Bono and his white flag (don't forget the mullet!) finishing a close second. Seems the perfect time to overhaul and update our web site.

First, the big news: we're a band again. We've hurriedly updated this site to reflect the new lineup: Mary Beth on vocals, me on guitar, Tommy on guitar, Roger on drums, and... introducing... Mr. Greg Strickland on bass. Greg is an old school chum of MB's -- and a freakin' monster on the bass. Yes, friends, that's the face of rock and roll staring back at you (sorry, Greg -- I couldn't resist using this one...).

Secondly, we're going to endeavor to update this here page once a week. Yes, I said it: once a week. That's 52 times a year. We're excited to be getting back on the stick, and just to prove it, we've been recording our practice sessions at Tommy's studio. Here's a rough cut called One Last Time Here.

Finally, as noted below, MB and I bugged out of Port Townsend, after much discussing and belaboring and general hand wringing. We have moved to the City of Destiny (or is that density?) -- and have so far been pleasantly surprised. It helps that we found a cozy 1925 Craftsman to call home. Couldn't have afforded it in Seattle, even if it had been wedged between two crack houses under I-5.

More soon...

- Matt


7 MARCH 2007

Back to Pugetopolis (cake, eat it) | Our apologies for the lack of news of late. We've been going through our own little existential crisis here in TWBA land. Long story short: the Kite house is up for sale, and we're moving back to the overpopulated side of the pond. Alas, Port Townsend is everything we noticed when we first moved out here in the summer of 2001: quiet, slow-paced, charming (in a faux-Victorian kind of way), and mostly pollution-free (other than the stinky pulp mill). The sky above us actually shows stars, and coyotes sing us to sleep every night.

But all those connections back in Seattle, including family, friends, and of course the other members of The Whole Bolivian Army, beckon. Moreover, we've found that ferry hopping every weekend isn't nearly as romantic after you've been doing it for six years. We tried to get away from the sprawl and the concrete world, tried to have our cake (TWBA) and eat it in Port Townsend, but what we've learned is that home isn't necessarily a place. It's people. It's music. It's back in Pugetopolis.

The good news for TWBA fans: the band is reuniting, although the details are still sorting themselves out. The thought gives me goose bumps. We're going to be a band again.

- Matt


23 DECEMBER 2006

Adult diapers | Hey, we just endured a little early Christmas gift here at the Kite house: the dreaded stomach flu. It came, it saw, it sent us running to the toilet. And, as Goofy would say, garsh. It was awful.

Yet we arise from the ashes ever hopeful. Not only are the days growing longer, one by one, minute by minute, but The Whole Bolivian Army is reforming just in time to record the ultimate TWBA album. How? Who? You ask. We're still figuring that out. But it's looking an awful lot like that 10-year anniversary show we had at the Rendezvous a couple years back. More than one ex-TWBA drummer will be on the album. And there will be a few guest musicians as well.

More importantly still, Mary Beth and I have been cranking out little pre-production demos for the others to listen to, and the songs are filling us with girlish glee, even in their nascent forms. If you'll remember correctly, before we immersed ourselves in the North by Nowhere project, we had already begun this one. Whereas NxNW was an experiment in fancy pop, the new one promises to be straight up and true and utterly us. How's that sound? The passion is practically jumping out of the demos, and that's a good thing. It's been a long time (anybody remember Amnesty?) since we just went about the business of making a great rock record, sans message, sans angle, sans anything overwrought, over thought, or overshot.

Now where are those adult diapers?

- Matt

C A L E N D A R

A respite, if you will.


S A T E L I T E S
TWBA at CD Baby: Sample every song on Morning After Food Poisoning in the South of France, North by Nowhere, and War Stories.
TWBA at Giant Radio: Home of a gazillion TWBA songs in Realplayer format.
TWBA at I-Tunes: For those of you who don't buy CD's anymore.
TWBA at MySpace: We try to keep pace with the slutty masses.
TWBA at Seattle Sounds: Andy Savage pays homage to the Seattle scene.
TWBA at YouTube: DorkusMongus lurks here.

 

© 2007 Gargantuan Records.